A crackdown to remove so-called legal highs from the streets of Newcastle is so far proving successful, police say.

Search warrants, seizures, undercover purchases and prosecution threats have all contributed to a reduction in legal high-related activity in the city.

Legal high-related calls to the North East Ambulance Service have dropped by 63.1% since a dedicated taskforce was set up at the end of January.

And February saw the force experience a 51.7% fall in the number of calls relating to legal highs.

Newcastle has been one of the worst cities in the UK for legal high abuse, and at 35% the city reported the highest proportion of people accessing drug treatment services for problems compared to anywhere else.

But following the creation of the taskforce by Northumbria Police, North East Ambulance Service and Newcastle City Council, police reported as early as the beginning of February that their work was making the substances harder to get hold of.

Last month, the ambulance staff received 97 calls involving legal highs compared to the 263 they got in January. Police received 85 calls compared to the 176 in the month prior.

Tactics have included undercover police test purchase operations, the execution of search warrants and legal seizures.

The disturbing video below was filmed on the streets of Newcastle and shows a suspected legal high user collapsing:

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

Community protection notice warnings have been handed to businesses thought to be selling legal highs, threatening them with prosecution if they continued selling them. One business premises in the West End of Newcastle was even forced to close.

All three partners in the operation have been involved in educational and engagement work, arguing that legal highs can be dangerous.

Simon Swallow, head of resilience and special operations at North East Ambulance Service, said legal highs were preventing doctors from seeing to other emergencies.

“We raised our operational status to ‘Severe Pressure’ in December as result of growing demand on the service during winter,” he said.

“These call-outs are putting an additional burden on our service by preventing us from being available to attend other life-threatening emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes.

“We are urging people not to take these so-called legal highs as they are putting their own lives in danger and also endangering the lives of others because these calls are potentially delaying our response to someone else who is suffering a heart attack or other life-threatening condition.”

Northumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Vera Baird, welcomed the new figures, saying: “I have been a determined campaigner on this issue, calling for the Government to take firm action against those who make these products and those who sell them.

“Firm action is certainly being taken here in Newcastle and through excellent partnership working we have the results to prove it.

“Residents can rest assured this is a top priority for me and I will ensure our officers do everything within their power to get those selling these substances before the courts so we can prevent people from getting addicted to them and putting their lives at risk.”